It also introduces a new love interest for Wallace - bread enthusiast Piella Bakewell.

The new film will reunite Nick Park with writer Bob Baker who co-wrote both The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave.

It is the first outing for Wallace and Gromit since The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which won the Oscar for best animated feature in 2006.

Mr Park said he was looking forward to making a short film after the pressure of a Hollywood feature.

I'm making this for myself again and the people who love Wallace and Gromit

Nick Park

"I love making films for the cinema but the production of Chicken Run and Curse of the Were-Rabbit were virtually back to back and each film took five years to complete," he said.

"This one we're making for the BBC. It's going to be a seven or eight-month shoot. That's faster than we've ever done it before," he told the BBC News website.

"It's nice to be out of that feature film pressure now. I don't feel like I'm making a film for a kid in some suburb of America - and being told they're not going to understand a joke, or a northern saying.

"I'm making this for myself again and the people who love Wallace and Gromit."

A video interview with Nick Park about Trouble At' Mill can be seen at www.wallaceandgromit.com.